The Toronto Maple Leafs‘ season rolls on with even more disappointment. Unfortunately, this past week, they lost their captain Auston Matthews after he took a knee-on-knee hit from Radko Gudas. To make matters worse, they’ve been under fire after no one jumped in to defend him. Since then, it has spiralled and has become a major talking point across the NHL. Other than that, the inability to win games since the Olympic break ended has hurt their playoff hopes. Now, the hope is that they keep finding ways to lose games and fall into the bottom five in hopes of getting their 2026 first round pick instead of it going to the Boston Bruins.
Here is the latest news and updates around the Maple Leafs and their schedule for the week of March 16-23, 2026.
Life Without Matthews
As mentioned, Matthews was injured after being kneed by Gudas in the game against the Anaheim Ducks last Thursday night. On Friday night, he was ruled out for the remainder of the 2025-26 season with a grade 3 MCL sprain and a quad contusion. The hope is that he doesn’t need surgery and that he will be back for the start of the 2026-27 season, if he remains a part of the organization after this season. There are still some questions that need to be answered regarding his future. Regardless, the Maple Leafs as a whole will now need to adjust to life without Matthews for the remaining 14 games.
The majority of the load will fall onto William Nylander, who will need to step up and take on one of the leadership roles and more offensive responsibilities. Outside of that, this is a great time to give more members of the Toronto Marlies a chance to play in the NHL. It has worked so far, especially with Benoit-Olivier Groulx, who has scored three goals in four games with the Maple Leafs. There’s also been Jacob Quillan and Michael Pezzetta who have been given chances in the lineup. There are a few other names they could bring up. For example, they’d need to sign Alex Nylander to a two-way deal, but he could be given another chance at the NHL level.
Final Stretch of the Season, Time to Tank
With only 14 games remaining in the season and the playoffs seemingly out of sight, the only hope would be that they continue to lose games and fall further down in the standings. Right now, they are 10 points out of the last wild card spot with 70 points. But they are six points ahead of the New York Rangers for fifth last in the NHL and sit 22nd in the entire league.
Related: Auston Matthews’ Injury Gives Him Time to Weigh Future
The good news is the Rangers are playing very well over the last week. The bad news is the Maple Leafs have earned three points in the last two games. While it is great to see them winning, it isn’t what needs to happen at this point in the season. They have three games this week and hopefully, if all goes right, they can lose at least two of the three to drop further in the standings.
Maple Leafs’ Upcoming Schedule
Here’s a look at the Maple Leafs’ upcoming schedule for the week of March 16-23, 2026:
- Tuesday, March 17 @ New York Islanders @ 7:00 pm ET
- Friday, March 20 @ Carolina Hurricanes @ 7:00 pm ET
- Saturday, March 21 @ Ottawa Senators @ 7:00 pm ET
